Transgender issue leads club to cancel membership

By Shannan BowenShannan.Bowen@StarNewsOnline.com

Wednesday

Jul 14, 2010 at 3:59 PMJul 14, 2010 at 7:47 PM

Rachael Gieschen, 69, who transitioned physically three years ago to live as a woman, is left hurt and feeling discriminated against after the board of directors for Hanover Seaside Club decided to cancel her membership,

Besides the obvious, life was different when Rachael Gieschen was a man. Gieschen had a membership to a beach-side club in Wrightsville Beach, founded a century ago by her family, and was part of a tight-knit local German community.But now 69-year-old Gieschen, who transitioned physically three years ago to live as a woman, is left hurt and feeling discriminated against after the board of directors for Hanover Seaside Club decided to cancel her membership, citing reasons such as members expressing “agitation and concern” about Gieschen's presence as a woman.Gieschen has not filed a lawsuit against the Wrightsville Beach club, which is at 601 S. Lumina Ave. Instead, she said she and her attorney are trying to resolve issues with the club amicably in an attempt to have her membership reinstated.“We think it's the right time for the club to come back and give me my membership back,” she said.Michael Silverman, an attorney retained by Gieschen who works at a law firm representing transgender issues, said there are several things the club can do to help its members accept Gieschen's new identity, such as member orientations and educational meetings.“Essentially what they're telling us is people feel uncomfortable. While that may in fact be true, our feeling is it's natural and predictable to feel uncomfortable, but there's a lot of things the club can do to not exclude someone,” he said.From man to womanGieschen's physical transition took more than 60 years. The signs that something was different came early, between 6 to 9 years old, but growing up in the 1940s meant she was expected to live as the gender and sex with which she was born.“It was a life on a revolving stage each second, each minute,” she said.Gieschen was married twice, had five children and retired after almost 23 years with the U.S. Air Force.Finally, after spending a short time as a cross-dresser in which she would dress up in women's clothes, Gieschen was diagnosed in 2007 by her therapist as being transgender, meaning she did not identify with her gender role as a man. That began her physical process of becoming a woman.Gieschen, who legally changed her first name to Rachael, said she wrote the club's board of directors in 2008 to inform them about the change in her life.After no response, she visited the club on vacation. Gieschen, who grew up in Wilmington and now lives in Raleigh, said no one at the club spoke to her, and she was snubbed by people she considered family and friends most her life.‘Kicked out'The president of the club's board of directors wrote Gieschen in May 2009 to suggest she resign her membership based on the concerns the club had about her presence there.The letter said Gieschen caused members to experience discomfort and distress at her last visit to the club. The letter also addressed bathroom facilities. “Other members' comments support the conclusion that, although you are now a woman, members will be uncomfortable regardless of which locker rooms or rest rooms you use. In view of the physical limitations of the club, we do not see how this problem can be resolved to everyone's satisfaction,” the letter said.The board of directors gave Gieschen the chance to meet with them, but they declined allowing her therapist to come and talk about being transgender, Gieschen said. After that meeting, the board's president sent a letter informing Gieschen that the board thought it was in the club's best interest to cancel her membership and refund the money she had already paid for the year.“I was just kicked out and asked to leave,” Gieschen said.“It really hurt. These are the people I grew up with,” she added.Phone calls to the club's president were not returned, and an attorney on behalf of the club said in an e-mail to the StarNews that the club declined to comment about the issue.The club itself was founded in 1898 by Gieschen's great-grandfather and other members of a German community that settled in the Wilmington area, Gieschen said.For Gieschen, it was a place where she grew up and where she took her five children to spend summer days.“For me, it was a place of tranquility. I didn't have to be on a revolving stage,” she said.But the memories Gieschen had of holidays, picnics and playing games at the club were from her days as a man.Still, Gieschen said she's the same internally. “The outer changes have been made, but I'm still the same person,” she said.While a lawsuit has not been filed, and since the private club has a right to its own rules, Gieschen and her attorney are working to restore her membership without going to court.But, Gieschen said, “The options are there.”

Shannan Bowen: 343-2016On Twitter.com: @shanbow

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